ATLANTA -- Drew Brees has had so many great days in the NFL. This may have been his worst. He lost to the game to the rival Falcons. He lost the ball on five different plays. He lost his 54-game touchdown streak. He lost his dream to play a Super Bowl home game. He lost the chance to take the Vince Lombardi Trophy from Roger Goodell.

He even lost track of time. That was the most baffling thing, at least to me. It happened at the end of the first half. The game had not started well for the Saints. In the first quarter, they gave up one long run after another. I saw better tackling at Hector Camacho's funeral. But here were the Saints, down at the Atlanta 5, just before halftime, the moment when the great quarterbacks separate themselves.

The Saints had no timeouts. Brees would remember looking up and seeing 17 seconds on the clock. He figured he could throw a short pass to Darren Sproles, then spike the ball if Sproles didn't score. He was half right. He got the ball to Sproles, looked up and all of a sudden this was not a football game, but that dream when you go to school naked.